Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Francis of Rome held a virtual meeting a few days ago. In that meeting, the two leaders of different branches of Catholicism disagreed sharply about Putin’s war of conquest against Ukraine.
Patriarch Kirill is all for Putin and his slaughter of innocents. He has used his position of Patriarch to deify what amounts to mass murder in the Ukraine.
There is no big surprise in this. Kirill, who has called Putin a “miracle of God“, is Putin’s boy, not Christ’s. He’s been backing Putin’s depravations throughout his tenure as Patriarch. The idea that Patriarch Kirill might be so moved by the suffering of Ukraine’s people that he would suddenly start speaking as a man of God instead of a political operative is unlikely at best.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, gives every indication of being willing and able to stand against powerful politicians and speak for the Gospel. He said early on that then presidential candidate Donald Trump was “not Christian.” The American right wing recognized that Pope Francis was someone they couldn’t control and therefore must destroy from the moment we heard “habemus papen.”
As soon as Jorge Bergoglio took the name Pope Francis and stepped out on the balcony to ask us to pray for him, right wing pundits such as Rush Limbaugh began firing volleys of criticism at him. Seditionist right wingers like Steve Bannon have worked with their cohort of priests and bishops, as well as right-wing funded Catholic media and blogs, to attack the Holy Father from inside the Church.
Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill could not be more different in terms of their individual morals. One possesses the independence that comes from following Christ. The other is just Putin’s whore in a goofy-looking hat.
Patriarch Kirill wasted no time backing his master when Putin invaded Ukraine. He has done his best to use his office to redefine Putin’s atrocity as a holy war ordained by God. He does this in spite of the fact that it is a brutal war of conquest and annihilation that is being waged against civilians with tactics that are war crimes.
It was inevitable that Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill would disagree about Putin’s war against Ukraine. One prelate is working to end the war, the other is the servant of the mass murderer who is waging it.
The difference between the two prelates is darkness and light.
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